The Wrench

The Wrench (Italian original: La chiave a stella) is a novel by the Italian writer and chemist Primo Levi (1919–1987). The Chinese edition, translated by Yang Xiaoqiong, was published by CITIC Press · Sanhui Books in 2017. Levi was a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz, number 174517, and became one of the most important witnesses to that history through works such as If This Is a Man, The Truce, and The Drowned and the Saved. In The Wrench, he deliberately steps away from the role of "Auschwitz witness" and turns his gaze to ordinary people in everyday life. The novel consists of conversations between the narrator—a writer and chemist—and the rigger Libertino Faussone. Sturdy and richly experienced, Faussone is constantly on the road, moving from one installation job to another, solving thorny mechanical problems in factories, on construction sites, and in remote corners. He places his longing for freedom in labor and skill, treats every on-site installation as an adventure, and never hides his skepticism toward regulations, authority, and empty rhetoric. Around these stories appear a colorful cast: skilled companions, bold young women, difficult employers, and incidents both absurd and comic. Levi records these episodes in a calm, faintly smiling tone, sometimes drawing a knowing smile, sometimes a quiet ache. The work won Italy's Strega Prize and is seen by critics as Levi's affirmative answer to the question of how one should work and live with dignity, and as his attempt to shed a single identity and write freely on any subject.